Victims of crime ‘were not helped by drinking’
Thursday 1st July 2010, 2:58PM BST.
MANY victims of violent crimes could have avoided injury if they had been sober, a report has revealed
Some Islanders have received more than £10,000 in compensation after being beaten up last year, but the criminal injuries compensation board has said that more than half of the 51 victims had run the risk of assault by being drunk.
A total of £303,557 was granted in 2009 to Islanders injured as a result of a violent crime.
The criminal injuries compensation board report says: ‘The board receives many applications in which drink has been a substantial cause of the victim’s misfortune.’
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Hi wanted to write a not on the other article of suicide on the increase.
I would like to ask, how many of those people were under the mental health (or have been previously). I ask this because I feel that since they closed residential mental health units, I see a lot of this vulnerabel people living in very poor conditions only because to keep a Unit open is too expensive
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A drunk victim ish shtill a victim, and anyone who disagrees can shtep outside now. HIC!
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Over 300£k paid out to people who should not have been there basically…A report says…Pure Genius…Now Dr.Geller wants to hire yet another bunch of outside “Experts” to provide another report,don’t worry you’ll be paying for it and if it turns out to look too much money the cost will be hidden from you,to tell us why the suicide rate has risen.as if we did not know…Another criminal waste of public money…yet we are to believe everything in the garden is chickety Boo,the Liars ,sorry spin doctors will attempt to allay your fears while there mates and fellow directors rake in the dosh,Truthseeker says..People are stretched Financially,emotionally, dismayed,depressed worn out and thorougly cheesed off and feel disenfranchised by a Govt that constantly Lies to the people,gets caught being crooked or incompetent or both, we are overcrowded,in debt and suffering a malaise caused by a loss of hope and purpose..for our power kiddies are purely greed driven.money money…pursued into the gates of insanity…nature bulldozed…where is the humanity,where is the quality of life and belonging,why did people like SS have such a following..? because people have been feeling powerless and gelded and he represented some form of fighting back,we have a can’t do culture..some one comes up with a good idea and there moves into place a whole raft of beurocratic layering which filters ,disembowels and thwarts creativity…A new film the makers wanted based in the island was greeted as an intruder.”Ahh well you can’t do that” is the usual response here,which is how we lost the International power boat race and many other events by being too precious,we have allowed the spirit of the community to flicker and dwindle..Only we can fan it back into a flame and ressurect the true Channel Islander Spirit for at the moment the island reminds me of those wildlife films where the sharks are ravaging and ripping bites of flesh out of a dead whale which is tethered to a whaler…so sad.
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Hallelujah – but I’m sure the ‘freedom of choice’ brigade will complain.
I choose not to get drunk because I don’t like the atmosphere in St. Helier at night and choose not to put myself in harm’s way – the same for not walking home as a girlie at 2am.
If 2 people want to beat seven drunken bells out of each other I don’t see why I should pay the loser. I also think it’s time people paid for increasing A&E treatment for drunken injuries .
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One must also presume that a substantial number of assailants were under the influence of alcohol when they commited their crimes.
Rather than criticise the police, Ian Le Marquand and his henchmen at Home Affairs, should look at how they can prevent drunken assaults and unruly behaviour.
He seems to be unable to reassure the public that he is able to do a great deal, when it comes to crime fighting. His job will be made all the more difficult due to his criticism of the very men and women who enforce the law. In my view he is a lame duck Home Affair Minister who has achieved very little.
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JAB said:
‘If 2 people want to beat seven drunken bells out of each other I don’t see why I should pay the loser’.
Totally agree. I’d like to say that cheap alcohol sold in the supermarkets is the problem – but chance would be a fine thing!!!
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I dont really get it, it appears to me that this report is a complete waste of time. There are so many factors involved that putting it down to the victim being drunk is wrong.
Where was the victim drinking? Home or out?
Was the assailant drinking too?
Was it a confrintation sparked by the person drinking or not?
How many times was the attacker involved with violence toward a person under the influence of alcohol in the last year?
You are probably more likely to be involved in violence when drunk simply because you have spent more time in a public place with other drunk people!
NEWS FLASH – DRUNK PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO FIGHT EACH OTHER!
Well done…
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You might as well say “car crash victim not helped by driving”
The assumption is that the victims were in someway complicit in their attack, as Jimmy Summerville said “Ain’t necessarily so”.
There is an element of risk in any activity, the perpertrators should be punished, not the victims. I’m playing safe and getting so leathered I can’t feel pain and taping up my mouth so I can’t offend anyone.
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The warry part of this, is that I have heard some people saying that they were going (and others have done already) to ‘organise’ fights so they can ask and then share the compensation money. People… have no doubts that this is happening already.
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#1 Teresa, suicide rates always rise with recessions (not in all cases is the person mentally ill either). This happens even with recessions that Governments don’t admit are happening. Mind you I have my concerns that ‘suicides’ in Jersey are not always investigated as thoroughly as they might be.
As for compensation? Is the taxpayer paying for it? Is the victim proving that they have incurred financial losses due to the attack? Is the victim being compensated ONLY for these financial losses? Financial compensation should ONLY be given when there has been an actual financial loss and the amount should exactly match that financial loss. Money is not a cure for ‘emotional harm’ so free counselling should be offered for this.
Drunks may not deserve to be attacked any more than anyone else but nor can they shirk all responsibility for it. Their chances of not being attacked would have been far higher had they not been drunk, that’s just common sense.
Alcohol is the biggest cause of violence worldwide and drunks are the biggest blight on society and on health services. Time we sorted it out really, drunkenness (N.B. not alcohol) should be socially unacceptable, it already is to anyone with intelligence.
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Will this philosophy also be applied to young women who are attacked and/or raped as a result of being provocotively dressed?
Puzzled
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#11 To suggest that they have caused their attack/rape is obviously wrong. To suggest that their dress, drunkenness or behaviour is the reason the attacker picked them over someone else would be correct in many cases. People don’t like these kind of discussions but we cannot keep ourselves safe by ignoring the truth. We each have a responsibility to keep ourselves safe and that means that regardless of our view on what we wear, a potential attacker could be wound up by it, or consider it a sign that we are the easiest target.
For convictions the victim’s behaviour is key. It is much easier to prove your case in court if you haven’t led a drunken, promiscuous life. That might seem unfair but how is a jury supposed to trust the story of someone who was drunk at the time? If it’s date rape but you’ve slept with all your previous dates then again, how can a jury put a man away on your word alone?
Sad, but true. We are the only people that can protect ourselves, the police are mostly there for after the fact! I’d rather not get attacked in the first place, and if I am, I’d rather have lived in a way that makes a conviction more likely! Only I can do that.
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